Science for the win: New wheat variety beats superbug, has higher yield

Some 90 percent of the wheat grown in the world today is susceptible to a new form of wheat rust, a crop-killing virus dubbed the “polio of agriculture.”

Older forms of wheat rust spoiled crops for millenia before scientists developed varieties of wheat that could resist it. But recently agriculture researchers have become concerned about a nasty variant of wheat rust known as UG99 that is rapidly spreading beyond East Africa, where it was first found in 1999.

The new variant of wheat rust is a nasty one. (BGRI)

The distinguished professor of agriculture Norman Borlaug, who died in 2009, recognized the threats posed by UG99 and created the Borlaug Global Rust Initiativefour years agoto study and counteract it. He did so after confirming the UG99 could overcome a crucial resistance gene he had discovered and had widely been used in global wheat breeding programs for decades.

Now, thanks to Borlaug’s initiative and scientists following in his giant footsteps, there is hope.

Ravi Singh, a wheat breeding expert at the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and colleagues from Africa and the U.S. Department of Agriculture report this week on new varieties of wheat under development that have resistance to several rusts of wheat, including UG99.

It’s also significant, the scientists note, that some of the new varieties of wheat yield 10 to 15 percent more than current wheat cultivars in wide use.

“We have made tremendous progress on the science side but now we need to see progress on the development side. Scientists can only do so much. We need to see national governments making the investments in seed systems development, including seed production and distribution. In many areas there will need to be support and leadership from wealthy countries and international institutions to carry these innovations into farmers’ fields.”

This is a story that’s not going to get wide distribution, and that’s a shame, because it’s a real triumph for science. Food prices are at historical highs, and if UG99 had devastated parts of the global wheat crop, they would have spiked far higher.

Instead we have scientists recognizing the problem and addressing it, before it has a meaningful impact. Few people will realize it, but millions have been saved from hunger by this discovery. It’s worth celebrating.

36 Responses

Their work couldn’t have come at a better time. According to many experts, we are approaching maximum food production (barring another Green Revolution; without it, we would have already passed maximum and starvation would be commonplace).

Couldn’t agree more on the importance of this. I know there are a lot of fears that people have on crop modifications–plenty of them unfounded–but not modifying them to defeat this would be a crime beyond all measure.

That’s just great. More wheat to eat! Now our buns will be bigger, so will our buns (it’s not a typo, think about what I’ve said). If wheat were to go away, the health of the world would improve. Period. Exclamation point.

We people subside on wheat, they live a long, slow, painful and dreadful existence.

Humans have always eaten grains like wheat, and wheat has been a staple in the West through enough famine cycles over the past 6000 years that, chances are, we are at least moderately evolved (bred) to eat it and be healthy. This idea that wheat is bad for you is ridiculous. Refined carbs (including white rice) are bad for you in large quantities. Whole grains are, generally speaking, good for you.

I hope that you are saying that only wheat is bad and not other grains besides even if grains were not the ideal staple, the alternative would be starvation for billions of people. You can’t feed 6 billion people on a Paleo diet. You probably couldn’t even feed 3 billion people. I recently spend 3 weeks in Zambia and the amount of energy that goes into food production is enormous and there is still starvation. Grains are the easiest food source to produce in large quantities.

Nah, federal gov’t still screwing us as usual for the sake of profits for big businesses. Wheat is NOT that healthy no matter what in large quantity. It is everywhere… Pizza, bread, pasta, and many other processed food.

Nobody gives a rat @ss about productive people who do useful things to benefit the world. But if one kills a few million people, flatten a whole city then everyone will remember. It’s just human nature, however ironic.

But this is genetecally engineered FrankenWheat. Any good leftie environmentalist must oppose this. We can’t have scientists and technology stalling all our carefully laid plans for mass starvation, and world government to help these starving poor. So what if it will greatly increase world food production, at little to no extra cost, as Lou said in his comments, all this extra food will only benefit the fat cats anyway. And it will also lead to less starvation, and increased world population, we can’t hve that can we, we would be priming the population bomb. Doesn’t mother earth want us all to starve so we can keep nature pure. Besides any good rich leftist has their own personal supply of everything anyway, so why should they worry about these lowly common people.

[...] Science for the win: New wheat variety beats superbug, has higher yield This is a story that’s not going to get wide distribution, and that’s a shame, because it’s a real triumph for science. Food prices are at historical highs, and if UG99 had devastated parts of the global wheat crop, they would have spiked far higher. [...]